Sydney's Daily Telegraph claims Counter-Strike inspired a murder. Ben Mansill, John Gillooly and Ty Pendlebury have another opinion.
Ben Mansill, Atomic
Nice work Daily Telegraph. You've done the profession proud.
It's been a while since the Tele abandoned all tenets of professional journalism and went with a beat up of such extravagant proportions.
The easy-to-read-on-a-crowded-train paper employs some very good journalists and editors. Some I count as friends. Today's effort though belongs not in an Australian daily, but on the cover of News of the World, or the National Enquirer.
I'm reminded of another Telegraph cover, many many years ago when Reagan really had it in for Gaddafi, and was busy bombing Libya. The Tele ran an oversized image of Gaddafi's face, but touched up to look like he was wearing drag. Lipstick. Eyeliner. A dress.
Anyone with half a brain knew that this was just the Tele playing silly buggers. But I have no doubt that to this day, there are punters out there who will tell you at the pub that Gaddafi is a girlie-man.
Right now there are half-a-brain people who, today, believe that computer games are driving ordinary folks to murder their loved ones. And in years to come they will still hold those opinions thanks to misleading reporting.
Sadly, the family of the victim, and their friends, who now are likely in a vulnerable state of impressionable weakness, may also fall for this beat up job.
They are dealing with grief and looking for answers. They need to find the truth, they need to accept what horror caused this tragedy. For them to fall for the paper's simplistic targeting of computer games, is tragic.
It's all too easy to focus blame of the biggest easiest target. To extrapolate from something a person showed a passing interest in, to a level of obsession-driven role-playing that led to murder.
Every professional journalist, police officer and judge knows that truth is hardly ever immediately apparent when a horrible event like this happens. They are trained to use objective analysis to ferret out the truth.
And in runs the Telegraph. What a fantastic cover they've done on today's edition. A screenshot of Counter-Strike. A photo of the victim.
Emotive stuff. I expect Lawsie and Jonesie will be running with this one today. How can they possibly resist? Stan Zemanek will have a field day with this. I think I'll go catch a few cabs today and hear first hand from Sydney's taxi drivers about how Microsoft Flight Simulator was responsible for 9/11. How Need for Speed killed Princess Diana.
The Tele backed up its argument with quotes from the vice president of the Family Planning Association, Bill Muelenberg. Well, he's going to be keen to condemn games isn't he? His quote: "These newer games have interactivity and graphics, so you can really assume a role with them." No kidding, Bill. Interactivity and graphics?
Games didn't kill people in the good old days when they had neither of these killer features. Let the kids play computer games with no interactivity and no graphics. That'll surely make the world a safer place. The Tele has locked in its story with the expertise of Bill Muelenberg, computer games expert.
The Tele hasn't done a complete job though. Did the alleged assailant own any heavy metal CDs? Had they ever watched a zombie horror movie? Have they eaten slaughtered cow at McDonalds lately?
Curiously, there's not a word about Counter-Strike the people killer in either The Australian or the Sydney Morning Herald today. Odd that these two lightweight 'news' papers completely overlooked the biggest story on the streets today.
I'm sure the editors of those two papers are on the phone right now, trying to secure the services of Tele journalists in order that their papers can match the editorial integrity of the Daily Telegraph.
The truth is out there somewhere...
John Gillooly, Atomic
Splashed across the cover of today's Daily Telegraph in Sydney is a large screenshot of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, the single player version of the world's most popular multiplayer game. The story is about a murder case currently underway in the Supreme Court in which it is alleged that two assailants dressed in combat fatigues, balaclavas and ski goggles, undertook a home invasion that left one man dead and his wife injured with a gunshot wound.
This tragic story made the front cover thanks to a statement made by the prosecutor, which has been quoted in several news stories about the case. He stated to the court:
"The peace and tranquillity of the family life they had enjoyed up to that time was shattered because of two men, one of which the Crown says was the accused, dressed in an outfit that was inspired by a computer game, Counter-Strike, in which the accused had some interest and from which he derived some enjoyment."
This remark has now been transformed into a full-blown link between the game Counter-Strike and the crime. It has all the hallmarks of a great story, especially in the post Manhunt ban climate where video game violence is again rearing its head as a corruptor of youth. It is not even as if the crime appears to be directly linked to the game as all the prosecution is alleging is that the outfits worn were inspired by the game. The Daily Telegraph translates this in its coverlines to "yesterday a court heard it inspired a murder"
But what are the outfits of Counter-Strike, a game that until a recent upgrade was based upon the same rudimentary 3D graphics that power the game Quake. They are copies of real world Counter-Terrorist uniforms, simplified to work with the game technology. They are not uniquely identifiable as being from Counter-Strike, in fact there is no uniform comprised of combat fatigues, balaclava and ski goggles. The closest is the German GSG9 inspired outfit that has ski goggles sitting on a distinctive brown camouflage helmet.
But I doubt things are going to fizzle out at the fashion level. I'm almost certain that by the time you read this the foot of at least one current affairs journalist will be jammed into a door of an internet café, hoping for a glimpse at the kill-factory inside. And yes, then we will get another wave of video game violence scandal, maybe a couple more games will be recommended for reclassification by the OFLC and retroactively banned despite years of free availability.
Maybe I'm too cynical. But yesterday, when the story first appeared on another news website there was much debate, and anger, around the editorial room. As someone put it "the game guys are angry again", and despite the belief by some that the story would go away, we knew deep down that this was just the start of something ridiculous.
First it was Dungeons and Dragons, then it was Doom. Now it's Counter-Strike. Our kids, instead of wandering the streets and taking drugs, are staying indoors and dreaming up schemes to off people. Inspired by their favourite computer game of course.
OK. So according to yesterday's reports on the Josef Logozzo murder only one of the two assailants was dressed as a character from Counter-Strike. Now both men were dressed in fatigues and ski goggles. Sounds like two robbers in disguise to me. This is a game that has been around for five years, and only now is it inspiring Aussie's to kill.
One thing that the reports aren't saying is what Counter-Strike is, or what a character from it would look like. Counter-Strike is simply a game where two teams - Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists - battle over objectives - whether it's a bomb in a tourist attraction or a hostage situation. As you would expect, most players wear camouflage gear, and there aren't many skiers amongst them.
Frankly, the terrorism angle would be more sexy in the current climate than "computer games are evil", but some bright spark will no doubt combine the two and detail how Counter-Strike encourages terrorism. Be alert! Because that's just what we need: more alerts.
And I just can't wait for the next instalment: how Sims 2 inspired young faceless girl-next-door, 13, to slowly build four walls around her hapless neighbour and thus attempt to starve him.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012